Project 4, Stage 3

This exercise is a difficult one for me, as it is completely against the way I work. I have been designing my own quilts for more than 8 years and I never work from a completed drawing. And this is not because I don't have any imaginative flow, but I work from a different starting point. Here are 3 examples of all the drawing I do for a new design:

The doodle at the left is design for a 3d quilt. My idea is to stitch and quilt circles, fold these and stitch these to a quilted background. Color of the circles will be rusted brown - I intend to use rust dyed fabric for it and the background fabric will be a dark one, maybe reddish to represent the color of the soil in Uganda. The title will probably be Chapati's or something like that although a friend of my nicknamed this design Sagging boobies. The nickname will probably stay with the quilt for ever.

The doodle on the right will be made in black and white colors. I decided to use these colors because I love the contrast between them and that same contrast is there with the circles and the wavy lines. For quilting I intend to use red thread. The position of the circles and lines might change when I am positioning the pieces on top of the background. Designs need a bit of playing. Technically speaking I could make an exact drawing before I start cutting, but if I would do that I probably never finish the quilt. I prefer to have some freedom while I am working and new ideas might pop up. What I do know is that the number of the circles is going to be uneven, the drawing shows 3, but in reality there might be 5 or 7 when he quilt is finished. Making all different drawings for every set up, would be - for me - a waste of time. I have the doodle and I have the idea in my mind. That is enough for me to work with.

This doodle is an idea for a quilt which started with a gorgeous rust dyed piece of fabric. The fabric is small, actually to small to work with, so it needed some extra borders. On the centre piece a piece of metal weaving will be placed - using rusted wire and rusted objects - and some additional hanging rusted pieces of metal. What will be the shape of these objects? At the moment no idea. That depends on what I will have at hand at that moment and whch objects 'work'  in combination with the metal woven piece. Can I make a drawing how it will look when finished? No better than my doodle at the moment. This is one of those pieces which will grow during the creative proces. To draw out everything would kill my creativity.

I do understand that not everybody can work like this. I have been doing this for years and I love it. Ideas come to me when I see a specific piece of fabric, or when I have a word or (book/film) title as an inspiration source. With mindmapping and munching on the fabric/theme I come up with ideas. I write down those ideas, add a doodle and that is it.

I really hope that this explanation is satisfactory for this project/stage.